“This guy’s amazing”: the guitarist Eddie Van Halen asked Alice Cooper to arrange lessons with
The image of Eddie Van Halen, with a Fender Stratocaster in hand, has adorned the walls of rock fans and guitar obsessives for decades. Regardless of your opinions of his distinctly American brand of hard rock, his technical ability and effortless style can certainly not be disputed. The Amsterdam-born guitarist provided inspiration for an entirely new generation of rock and roll disciples, but for his own celebrated career, he drew upon a much broader range of influences than he is often given credit for.
When it comes to the rock scene of the 20th century, Eddie Van Halen is a completely unavoidable figure, much like the dark prince Alice Cooper. It seems pretty unsurprising, therefore, that the pair forged something of a friendship over the years. Cooper had something of a headstart on Van Halen, having established himself within the American music scene of the 1960s, growing a reputation for his dark performances and horror-influenced lyricism.
Alice Cooper was vital in the development of the kind of hard rock that Van Halen would later come to define. You could forgive the pair for being pretty arrogant about their contributions to the world of rock – they have certainly earned the right. However, both Cooper and Van Halen remained in awe of their early influences well into their own period of stardom. One such unexpected influence came in the form of country and western icon Glen Campbell.
On the face of it, the gentle country stylings of Glen Campbell could not be further apart from the blistering rock and roll of either Alice Cooper or Eddie Van Halen. Even the most imaginative of music scholars would struggle to draw parallels between tracks like ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ and Alice Cooper’s ‘Dead Babies’, but that didn’t stop the two from becoming firm friends. In a situation that seems virtually unimaginable, Cooper would often play golf with Glen Campbell, as he would often do with Eddie Van Halen as well.
During an interview on The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker, Cooper reflected upon his friendship with Van Halen and how Glen Campbell remained a wondrous figure for them both. “One time,” he recalled, “Eddie Van Halen called me up and said, ‘Hey, I wanna come to Arizona and play golf.’ And I went, ‘Okay, great.’ Now, Eddie, after the first game of golf, said, ‘How’s my game?’ And I went, ‘Eddie, you are a great guitar player.’ And he says, ‘Yeah, but what about my game?’ I go, ‘Eddie, you’re a great songwriter.’”
Apparently, though, Van Halen had not met with Cooper for the sole purpose of working on his short game. “The real reason he came in,” Cooper remembers, “he says, ‘Okay, let me tell you the real reason I wanted to come in. I need for you to get me a guitar lesson with Glen Campbell.’ Glen Campbell was such a great guitarist that other guitar players could hear what he was doing and go, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy’s amazing.’ So Glen Campbell was going to give Eddie Van Halen a guitar lesson.”
The idea of anybody, let alone a country and western star, schooling Eddie Van Halen on the guitar seems ludicrous, but Glen Campbell was a much better guitarist than people often give him credit for. Admittedly, his most popular tracks did not offer much opportunity for him to showcase his incredible skills, but that did not stop either Alice Cooper or Eddie Van Halen – who did, indeed, have a guitar lesson with Campbell – from recognising that incredible talent.
